10 Stephen King References And Homages In Stranger Things
4. Read Any Stephen King?
When Sheriff Hopper and Joyce Byers visit the mother of Eleven (though they haven't, at that point, actually met the girl), they encounter a shell of a woman cared for by her sister. Terry Ives is no longer a functioning member of society, and is pretty much a vegetable. When they inquire about what happened to her, they get one heck of a story...
Terry, says her sister, supposedly miscarried, but believes that her daughter actually lived, and had supernatural powers. The child was taken by the government, and used in experiments as a weapon. When Hopper asks the woman's sister what kind of powers, she quips "read any Stephen King?"
Why yes, Stranger Things, we have. The powers in question are, of course, straight out of novels like Carrie and The Dead Zone (and one other, in particular, which might be the biggest link between King and the show).
In any case, it's the perfect response, because a majority of viewers would have already been leading in that direction.